Principal's Message Oct 24-28
Dear Peabody and Watkins Community,
It is time for an equity update on all the important work happening across our schools and in our caregiver spaces. This year, my messages have been about the joys of school and important events in order to lay a foundation for a successful year. Underpinning everything we do is our school's commitment to equity and that work is also continuing. It's time to lift that up.
Kindred Mini-Dialogues are Launching!
Are you committed to contributing to a diverse, equitable, and antiracist school community in which students, families, and staff experience a sense of belonging and can truly thrive?
Consider joining the Peabody and Watkins Equity Team by taking part in a five-session dialogue experience to:
Build trusting relationships with other members of Cluster community
Reflect upon your own and learn about each other’s multifaceted identities
Examine the ways that racism and other forms of injustice show up in our schools
Build your capacity to serve as an equity leader and take action to address equity priority areas
See our full flier here and contact Equity Team member Maggie Adams at Maggie Adams: maggiemaeadams@gmail.com with questions. Thank you Maggie!
Our PTA has partnered with the school in funding this work. I want to thank for all those who voted to approve the budget and especially to the Executive Team for supporting our third year of partnership with Kindred.
Equity Team Update
Did you know our schools-wide equity team consists of 9 caring staff members and 19 committed caregivers? We meet regularly and are focused on three priorities:
- Creating connections and belonging for students, families, and staff;
- Creating the Anti-Racist Curriculum Extension & Family Toolkit
- Supporting diverse and inclusive caregiver spaces.
Everyone in this group has completed the dialogue series with Kindred either last year or year prior. We also have grown our capacity to facilitate the dialogues ourselves!
Peabody's Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Curriculum Extension
The Peabody team has designed 5 units of reflection and exploration through picture book read-alouds. We shared the overview of these units and detail for the first unit with families in September. The Unit 2 Caregiver Night is scheduled for November 9!
Unit 1: Identity: Who am I? Who is my family?
Unit 2: Diversity: Celebrating differences in my community
Unit 3: Fair/Unfair
Unit 4: Advocacy: sticking up for oneself and others
Unit 5: Family Holidays, Celebrations & Traditions
Watkins Equity Committee
At Watkins, the team is forming and starting soon with our first staff-facing work this month. There are no immediate plans to do student-facing, anti-racist work. With older students, more preparation, training and dialogue is needed for staff before a similar effort to Peabody's is launch at the student level.
Race, Class and Equity Group
This message was sent to the list serve by Tom Gugliemo and co-authored by Marisol Bello, Chris Blanchard, Lisa Brooks, Ramona Burton, Tom Guglielmo, Asheley McBride, and Patricia Odom. I want to lift if up for all of our community because their work has been foundational to our equity journey.
We're closing up shop and merging our activities with those of the new Cluster Equity Team, which Kindred has helped to establish over the last two years.
Believe it or not, but it's been more than five years since our first meeting -- a dialogue about a Nikole Hannah-Jones article in June 2017! Since then, we've been doing our part to make the Cluster more equitable and inclusive through forums and dialogues and advocacy and organizing and more. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, helping to shift the culture at the Cluster toward a more conscious and intentional push for equity in all parts of our school.
An essential part of our work over the last few years has been finding Kindred, learning about them, applying to partner with them, and supporting their work from their arrival at the Cluster onward. So we're excited to join the new Equity Team – a natural extension of our efforts -- and we’re very hopeful about the future and the work ahead!
To everyone on this list -- some of whom have long since left the Cluster -- we want to express our heartfelt thanks for everything you've done over the last 5+ years to make our school a better place for all kids and all families!
I am very grateful to these and other leaders for forging the path for the work that is being done today. Combining the experience and wisdom of the RCE team with the Equity team only means great things for our community.
Key Dates for Families
Oct 26: Watkins Hispanic Heritage Celebration
Oct 27: Stand Up to Bullying Day at Watkins. Everyone wear Orange
Oct 28: 1st and 2nd Grade Panther PRIDE Community Meetings
Note: Watkins book fair is postponed due to the out of service elevator. We are planning on for mid-December.
Spirit Week starts Oct 31!
Monday, October 31 - Book Character Day (& Parade): Dress as a favorite book character!
Tuesday, November 1 - Sport Day: Show your favorite team or sport!
Wednesday, November 2 - Wacky Wednesday: Wear mismatch, inside-out, anything goes!
Thursday, November 3 - Hat Day: Wear a favorite or silly hat!
Friday, November 4 Rock the Red Day: Show Your Cluster Spirit and wear red!
On October 31 students at both schools will celebrate their book characters by having a parade. Please send students with their book, if possible. Caregivers are invited to view the parade on the parade route!
At Peabody: at 9am, PreK 4 students (followed by PreK 3 & K students) will start a parade around our block and families are invited to watch. Route will be out the C Street Playground gate, west toward 4th and around the block to Constitution, 5th Street and return to the front door. Caregivers are welcome!
At Watkins: the parade will happen Monday afternoon. More details coming next week!
SAVE THE DATE: PICTURE DAY
FoodPrints Caregiver VOlunteer Sign Ups
For the Watkins schedule, the 1st-3rd grade classes will go in the afternoon, so look for your child's afternoon teacher, not homeroom teacher on this schedule.
SAFETY/ EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS DRILLS THIS WEEK
As required by DCPS, we will follow the below emergency preparedness drill schedule to ensure all students and staff are prepared in the event of an emergency.
SY 22-23 Drill Schedule
Oct: Fire Drill & Earthquake Drill
Nov: Fire Drill & Lockdown Drill
Dec: Fire Drill & Alert Status Drill
Jan: Fire Drill & Severe Weather Drill
Feb: Fire Drill & Shelter in Place
March: Fire Drill & 500 ft evacuation/ relocation Drill
April: Fire Drill & Reverse Evacuation Drill
May: Fire Drill & Lockdown Drill
June: Fire Drill & Shelter in Place
Next week we will be conducting “Safety Week” to ensure all members of our school community are aligned with expectations and procedures in the event of an emergency. During this time, we will conduct an earthquake drill and an unannounced fire drill, both mandated by DCPS. Date of earthquake drills for both campuses will be:
- Wed. October 26- Peabody
- Fri. October 28- Watkins
Teachers will be asked to explain the earthquake drill to students in advance, using age-appropriate language. Parents may also wish to discuss the drills with their children, emphasizing that they are for practice, just like fire drills. Our earthquake protocols, as well as sample language that will be shared with students prior to the drills can be found in this document: SY 21-22 Lockdown and Earthquake Drill Protocols.pdf
Watkins
Watkins Celebrates Hispanic Heritage
October 26, 6-7pm
The celebration includes live performances! "Vivir me Vida" - a song and dance by 3rd-5th graders and "Mi Gente" by 1st & 2nd graders. Hispanic biographies and artwork will also be showcased. There will also be a guest musician, Juan Hernandez, and mini salsa lessons for caregivers and students alike!
All Watkins students are preparing for this event in their Spanish, Music, and Art classes and are welcome to participate. Ask you child to share what they are learning and help them practice for the big event!
Watkins Panthers are Up-standers
Please dress in orange in solidarity with bullying prevention month on Thursday October 27.
Panther PRIDE Community Meetings
It's also been a little bumpy regarding the parent access. Moving forward, this link will provide access to all of the Panther PRIDE Community Meetings.
When are the next celebrations?
5th Grade - Oct 14, 2:30
4th Grade - Oct 21, 2:30
3rd Grade - Oct 21, 9:05
2nd Grade - Oct 28, 9:45
1st Grade - Oct 28, 9:10
Fall 2022 Panorama Survey for 3rd - 5th graders
Twice a year, we ask students in grades 3 and higher to complete a survey about social emotional learning for DC Public Schools, the Panorama Student Survey, to help DCPS and school administrators better understand what students think about their school experiences and their social and emotional learning.
For three surveys in a row, Watkins students have reported an increased feeling of loved at our school! This is a key metric we plan around and have as a goal on our school plan. There are more details in the Caregiver Opt-Out Form. All 3rd - 5th students will take the survey unless we receive an opt-out form.
We are finalizing the administration schedule and will have it all done by November 4th.
Peabody
PEABODY BOOK FAIR: 10/24- 10/28
The Pizza Party is Back!
JOIN US FOR THE FIRST PEABODY PIZZA PARTY OF THE 2022-23 SCHOOL YEAR!
When: Tuesday, Oct 25th (Rain date Wednesday, Oct 26th), 5:30-7:30PM
Where: Peabody Blacktop
What: Peabody Pizza Party! (Pizza, drinks and snacks provided by the Captiol Hill Cluster
PTA)
Who: Peabody students, families and siblings
Please join us for a fun, free, relaxed evening of community, music, pizza and books to kick off the new school year.
Capitol Hill favorite musical duo King Bullfrog will perform, and the Scholastic Book Fair will be open during the party as well.
Bring a blanket and enjoy getting to know Peabody families, teachers and staff.
Don't forget to bring all your PTA questions as well! We will have plenty of information about how to get involved with Peabody and PTA this school year!
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